The number of middle schoolers and high schoolers who reported using a tobacco product in the last 30 days dropped from 4.7 million in 2015 to 3.9 million in 2016, according to results from the 2016 National Youth Tobacco Survey.
The tobacco survey is a school-based questionnaire administered to middle and high school students. The sample size for the 2016 survey was 20,675. An analysis of the survey results were published in the CDC's most recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Here are five key findings from the report.
1. The overall decline in tobacco product use was chiefly driven by a sharp reduction in e-cigarette use from 3 million in 2015 to approximately 2.2 million in 2016.
2. According to the survey, 20.2 percent of high school students and 7.2 percent of middle school students used some type of tobacco product in 2016.
3. Among teenage tobacco users, nearly half — 47.2 percent of high school students and 42.4 percent of middle school students — reported using multiple tobacco products within the last 30 days.
4. The most commonly used tobacco products varied based on racial demographics. While non-Hispanic whites and Hispanic high school students preferred e-cigarettes to other tobacco products, non-Hispanic blacks preferred cigars. Additionally, smokeless tobacco use was highest among non-Hispanic whites.
5. While the analysis of survey results does indicate a decline in tobacco use from 2015 to 2016, tobacco use rates have not changed significantly among teens since 2011 due to the rise in popularity of e-cigarettes and hookah tobacco.
"While the latest numbers … are encouraging, it is critical that we work to ensure this downward trend continues over the long term across all tobacco products," said Scott Gottlieb, MD, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. "Every day in the U.S., more than 2,500 youth under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette and more than 400 youth become daily cigarette smokers. It is also clear from these most recent numbers that youth are continuing to experiment with, or becoming regular users of, a wide range of other tobacco products."
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